


(We did it all) For the glory of love

by ryiason



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Modern AU, Zombie Apocalypse, and the assholes of renly's men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 11:26:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21898612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryiason/pseuds/ryiason
Summary: A safe place for the Brienne/Jaime fics I didn't finish. I know, I miss them too.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Podrick Payne/Sansa Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. Zombie Apocalypse AU

It isn't Brienne's time to get food but Podrick got injured because of little 'rough-housing' with Hyle Hunt and his little merry band of asshole, as Podrick calls them, and Brienne has no choice but to take Podrick's responsibility.

Podrick looks sheepish, or as sheepish as he can be when his face is bruised and hurting as she tells him she'll be the one to go out to hunt. Brienne wants nothing more than to punch Hyle and his friends, it would be justified, too but she thinks of how little they are now. Renly -- and her heart hurts as she thinks of him -- is dead now. And she doubts Randy will let it slide if Brienne will accidentally rough house his men. He saved her from being rape and that pathetic bet they did for her virginity, in his mind, she owes him.

It makes Brienne snort as she takes her gun and a dagger. Podrick watches her.

"I could still do it, Bri. I'm not crippled, just a little bruised."

Brienne looks at him -- he is more than a little bruised. He looks like he fought a bear and barely manage to live to tell the tale. She shakes her head. They hurt Podrick because of her. Because they couldn't face the truth that they didn't manage to take Big Brienne.

"It's okay. I will be back." She tells him. "Just take a rest. We will do something about them."

Podrick clenches his jaw and he looks angry.

Brienne wonders if they're mad at the same thing.

She locks the door and keeps the key. This is something she had told Podrick. She also left Podrick one of the guns that they manage to hide from Randy. Brienne doesn't trust that they won't do anything to Podrick.

As she leaves, Randy's men is looking at her, smirking. She wants to glare at them but she won't give them the satisfaction. They want her attention, for her to finally break and for them to have a reason to kick her out the group. 

Hyle walks towards her and smiles. Brienne remembers him; I almost won, Hyle said when the truth about the bet came out. I would have fuck her from behind, too, when I do. "If you want someone to help you to get some food, I'll be able to help."

"I can handle it." Brienne says. She opens the door and looks around beyond the gate. There's nothing.

"You probably won't. The walkers are everywhere. If you have someone with you --"

"Hunt," she flicks her gaze to him. "I don't need your help. What you can do for me is to stay away from Podrick."

"Hey, now. That was an --" Hyle clears his throat, mockingly. "An accident. A little game between men, you know? You wouldn't understand even if you look like a man; you're still a woman. Which reminds me --"

"Goodbye, Hyle." She says, indifferently. If she hears another word from him, she might accidentally stick her fist down to his throat and she doesn't think Randy will appreciate it.

She opens the gate -- careful not to make too much noise. The abandoned building that they're staying at is old, and looks like it's about to collapse. Renly used to have so many plans about this place. He wanted to open it as a shelter, Brienne hears him with Loras inside the room that they share about his plans of making a safe community. But Renly died because of Stannis -- another story she didn't want to recall -- and Loras told Brienne about what Renly did think of her, he apologised and he killed himself the next day.

It was months ago but the pain is still fresh, like a tattoo. But it's not the time to dwell on stuff like this.

She walks as fast she can to the car they use for patrol. She goes inside and reminds herself that she will need to take medical supplies for Podrick and Margaery -- Renly's widow. She told Brienne last afternoon, days after Renly died that Loras begged her to marry Renly so they can be together.

Brienne sighs. She has to pull herself together. Remembering is not a good idea now.

She starts the car and tries to find a safe, place to get edible food. There's no one in the road -- not even a walker. This is probably being the last man on earth feels like. She wants to laugh bitterly. Maybe it's better if she's alone.

She finds a supermarket an hour away from their abandoned building. She parks her car, takes her gun and walks out. She looks around the place -- there might be a walker, lurking. That's how they got one of them -- for not being careful. When she finds none, she runs towards the supermarket and opens the door. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, it's not locked. She goes inside and readies herself for any attack will happen. There's none. She finds a bag to put the food in and walks around. She takes some chips, canned goods and water. She's about to go to the next aisle but she wears scratching.

She walks slower, ready her gun and her stand. When she reaches a NO ENTRY, JUST STAFF door, she sees a walker against a door. It hasn't notice her, yet, and she's not planning, too. She shoots it. The walker falls down, and Brienne stares at the door it was against. She knocks and points the gun towards it.

"Who's there?" The voice asks. A girl.

Brienne gasps. "A survivor?"

The door opens and a girl -- maybe, twelve years old -- with a pair of green eyes looks back at her. "Oh."

"Oh?" Brienne says dumbly.

The little girl runs towards her and cries. "Thanks the gods, thank the gods." And the girl never lets her go.

Brienne manages to coax the girl enough to pull back a little. The girl is dirty, and a little thin. She has scratches, bruises and cuts all over her body. Brienne kneels down for them to be in the same height. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." She nods, sniffs. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No." Brienne purses her lips. She doesn't think Randy will appreciate another mouth to feed. "I will take you with me."

"Okay."

Brienne brushes the girl's fridge out of her face. "What's your name?"

"Myrcella." She whispers.

"Okay, Myrcella. I will take you. For now, you need to help me find some food, medicine and we will take some clothes for you." Brienne stiffens as she remembers Randy's men. A little girl like her... "And some jacket. If we can find a weapon, like a knife or something, is even better."

"Okay." Myrcella nods. "What's your name?"

"Brienne."

"Brienne." Myrcella says, like she's tasting the word in her tongue. "Brienne. You have a pretty name."

Brienne doesn't say anything. She just grabs the little girl's hand and they take what they need in the supermarket. She needs to kill at least two more walkers when they find a toilet for Myrcella to at least clean herself up.

"Why are you here, Myrcella?" Brienne asks. Myrcella begs her not to wait outside so she's watching Myrcella takes off her clothes because the toilet is too small. "If you want to talk about it."

Myrcella looks mad for a second. "My mother dragged me away. She wanted to hurt my dad because he didn't want to follow our grandfather. She couldn't take my brothers so she took me."

Brienne catches the bruises in places a normal person wouldn't see. She guesses the mother was... "Where is she now?"

"Dead." She answers, nonchalantly. "I pushed her towards the zombies. Then, I ran and ran and ended up here."

Brienne blinks.

"I hate her." Myrcella continues.

If she hated her mother enough for her to choose to be alone than to spend one more minute with her mother, Brienne closes her eyes. What they did to Podrick... Brienne breathes.

"How long have you been here?"

Myrcella finishes changing her clothes. "I don't know. A week? A month? Long enough."

Brienne wonders what this girl has been through. "Okay, Myrcella. We will go to where I'm staying. But the thing is --" she purses her lips. "Nevermind. It will be alright."

They walk out the supermarket and get to the car in record breaking time. Brienne gives Myrcella a bunch of chocolate to munch on while she drives. Myrcella is talkative. She has a lot of stories about her family and friends -- notably, she doesn't say anything about her mother. Her father, though, has been in her stories a lot of times. She adores her dad, as far as Brienne can tell. She has two brothers, a boy named Tommen and another that Myrcella crunches her nose at when Brienne asks what his name was.

Brienne is not stupid. She knew who this little girl is as soon as she sees the green eyes. Myrcella Baratheon, the daughter of Cersei and Robert Baratheon. Or what the official statement will say. But the green eyes and the blond hair seems to be pointing at different DNA.

It's obvious that whoever Myrcella calls her father is Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer.

But she's not about to tell Myrcella that.

She drives on.

  
*

  
Randy Tarly doesn't appreciate Myrcella and orders Brienne to let the walkers have their way on her.

Myrcella grabs Brienne's middle as soon as Randy says it. She sighs. It has come to this.

"Fine." She grits her teeth. "I'll be leaving as well."

"What?" Randy spats.

"I'm leaving." Brienne says and puts her arms around Myrcella when Randy and his men glare at them. "I will go."

"You won't survive out there." Randy warns her. "You're just a woman."

"You don't know that. And anyway, I'd rather die out there than be here."

Randy laughs, mockingly. "Fine! After what I did for you. You will leave the food you got from wherever you came from. And leave the guns. You don't deserve anything that came from here."

Brienne swallows. She nods and goes straight to her room she shares with Podrick. Her hands shake as she opens it.

"Bri!" Pod greets, smiling. His smile slips when he sees Brienne's face. "Bri?"

"I'm leaving. I found Myrcella and they don't want her. I'm going. I'm going to find Myrcella's family and return her."

"Let me come with you." Podrick says, panic. "I -- I'm useless but --"

"Of course, you're coming with me." Brienne says firmly. "Anyway, we need to go now before it gets dark."

Myrcella is besides her and she taps Brienne. "I want to pee."

Brienne tells her the direction of the toilet, which is far away from the prying eyes of the men. She helps Podrick cleans his wound and they manage to pack their clothes and they guns that they manage to keep. Myrcella comes back and Brienne grabs her.

"We'll be leaving now." Brienne announces.

"Don't come back." Randy rolls his eyes.

"We won't." Podrick replies.

Hyle whistles. "Even you, Pod? You're stupid like her, huh? If you actually just --"

"Fuck off." Podrick growls.

They leave the abandoned building. There's a car that Brienne hid when she was planning on leaving after Renly died. She was afraid, then, but now is a different story.

She helps Pod sit at the back and Myrcella sits in the front. She gives Pod a gun. Myrcella looks at Pod.

"I'm Myrcella."

"I'm Podrick."

"Are you siblings?" She asks.

Podrick smiles, sadly. "No. It would have been grand if we were."

Brienne starts the car. When she gets a little closer to the entrance of the abandoned building, they hear a muffled screaming. Randy comes running outside but a walker jumps him. He sees them and he puts his hand up for help and screams.

Brienen gasps. "What?" Then, remembers, "Myrcella?"

"I did pee." Myrcella purses her lips. "But I did saw some zombies. I opened the door, just a little bit."

Podrick chokes behind them.

"I may hate my mother but she did instilled some of her traits to me." She looks at Brienne. "You have to protect your own."

Brienne swallows. She needs to find Jaime Lannister. And fast.


	2. Dark!Bran

Bran watches as the world turns to ash.

He watches as his body seems to enjoy the fire and the burning and the screaming and the death but it isn't him, Bran, that enjoys it, nor it's the Third Eyed Raven but someone else.

Someone else that got pushed off the window, someone else that lost Hodor, someone else that lost his father, his mother, his brothers. Someone else that lost his home.

That someone else is living inside Bran's head; just like him and the Third Eyed Raven.

Bran watches as the world burn, and screams inside his head that isn't him.

  
*

Bran wakes up with a start.

Another dream. Another nightmare. But for one, Bran knows whatever he's seeing isn't just a dream. It is messages that came from the future. A figment of what's to come. And Bran has always been afraid of tomorrow, just like the rest of humanity, except this time, the fear he feels is the kind that he knows he has to acknowledge.

He sits up and calls for his servant. A good man named Mikael. He's been in the North as long as Bran does, maybe longer. Mikael's brother who took the Black died in the wall because of the Walkers.

Bran never tells Mikael he sometimes can hear his big brother's last thoughts when he died.

"Yes, my Lord." Mikael is already inside and blinking heavily.

"I apologise, Mikael." He says. He feels tired himself. "But can you carry me to the library and ask Ser Brienne of Tarth to come. Please."

"Yes, my Lord."

Mikael puts him in his chair and wheels it to the library. It is still dark, it always has been. Bran is starting to hate it. When they reach their destination, Mikael leaves him a glass of water. Bran is left alone with his thoughts and then --

Bran thinks of Jaime Lannister as he watches the fire.

The man who crippled him. The man who killed Aerys. The man who fucked his sister and bear her children. The man who took the maidenhead of a woman who was hopelessly in love with him and left her to go back to his sister.

Bran thinks of the man who he killed first. Indirectly, of course. Someone else talked to Tyrion, said some things about their sister and the child that she was carrying. On how Jaime should be riding to South for that.

He thinks of how Jaime died wrapped around his sister's arms and how he was thinking of Brienne of Tarth and silently telling her that he's the last woman he ever loved.

"-- Lord Bran, Lord --"

He feels a shake on his shoulder. "Ser Brienne?" He croaks out. Another dream.

"Yes, it is me. Are you alright, my Lord? Do you need --"

"I'm alright." He tells her. He looks at her face and catches her eyes; astonishing eyes, Jaime Lannister once thought. And they are. Sapphire. "Please, sit down with me, Ser."

Brienne sits besides him. Outside, it is winter. The snow falls like rain and he remembers when he was a child; so naive of the world. It's almost laughable how snow and silence used to bring him peace.

"I have dreamed twice tonight." He tells her. "And both of those dreams I am watching the world burn."

Brienne's eyes widen. "Is it..." the Dragon Queen.

"No. I made the world burn. After the war, I will rule the six Kingdoms. Sansa will rule the North. And everyone will think we have found peace under my regime but we won't, because I will turn into someone else."

"Someone else?" She asks.

"Yes. Not the Three-Eyed Raven, no, not even Bran. Someone else. It is the other side of the coin. If there is light, there is darkness. Someone else is the dark. Bran may have forgiven Jaime Lannister for crippling him, may have forgiven the enemies who killed his family, may have forgiven the world for taking Hodor but not someone else. Someone else remembers and everyone shall pay for their debts that he see fits."

Brienne's skin has always been fair but Bran never notices how fair it becomes when she's gone pale. She opens her mouth, "Is it just... a dream?"

Bran smiles at her innocence. "You and I both know there's no such thing as just a dream when it is me who are dreaming them." He breathes. "I don't know how much of the dream is the now or the future. But I don't like uncertains, Ser Brienne. It makes me afraid."

"I understand." She nods. "What is it... you want me to do?"

Bran looks at her. "You'll know when the time comes."

"But --"

"You will."

*

  
When Bran sees a vision sometimes, he feels the sensation of such things.

When he saw the Night King, he felt the cold. He felt the Winter chasing after them, he felt the tension, the fear, the upcoming doom.

That's how Bran knows his visions are real. It's one thing to see them, and another when you can feel them crawling in your skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a show based fic and i promise myself i'll never write that anymore so i'm gonna publish this so it's out there now. lolol


	3. Found Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted this fic to be novel like but i lost the motivation and i had nik/gwen the whole time in my head while i writing this so its gonna go here

Brienne has met Jaime exactly twice in her life.

Once in high school when he was graduating; when he was whole and golden and every inch of a lion he obviously was. He was beautiful. And Brienne was one of the people who was an awe of him. He was beside his twin, who obviously was the same as him: gorgeous and unreachable. She saw him pass her in the hallway and it never happened again.

The second time it happened, it was in the police station when Professor Catelyn's son was crippled and then there he was across her, the Jaime Lannister, still beautiful and golden and the lion. Except then, he has a few names under his belt: King Slayer; rumored that he killed the CEO opposing his Father's business, sister-fucker; rumored that he was fucking his sister.

That time, though, unlike when it was in a high school hallway, Jaime and Brienne's eyes met and there was something in his eyes that she couldn't pinpoint what but it was gone as as she noticed it.

That was the only interactions he ever had with the man.

So, when Jaime messaged her on Facebook, of all places, she was startled.

Can I meet you somewhere where we can have a cup of coffee? I have a favor to ask. This is Jaime, btw.

He had to tell her this is Jaime like she wouldn't know who he is. She also learned what btw meant that day. And she doesn't even used her Facebook for years, in the first place.

#

The Starks are like family to Brienne.

When she met Professor Catelyn in college, she was a loner. She never really actually had friends, because who would want to be friends with someone like her? And she wasn't good at small talk, her brother is better than that. He's a talker. Brienne gotten used to the fact Galladon would talk and Brienne would listen. All her life that's how she operates.

But someone has to inherit the family business and it fell on Galladon's shoulders and while her brother is doing something for his life, Brienne had to create her own path. So, she left Tarth and went to college in Kings Landing and that's when she met Catelyn, who was obviously bothered she was always alone.

She remembered what Catelyn said, one day: "You're smart. I always check everything you've written and all of them are just... so good. But I don't know why you don't speak."

"I'm not used to it. To talking." She explains.

"I see."

And Catelyn took extra care for her after that. She always invites her to lunch, tried to talk to her about topics outside her classes; Catelyn liked to talk about her family; about how she didn't love Ned, at first, but Ned was a kind man and it wasn't that hard to fall in love with him; about her children, about Robb, Sansa, Arya and Bran and in exchange, Catelyn asked about her hometown, about her Father and her brother, Galladon. This made her a Catelyn to Brienne rather than a Professor Stark and it sunk into her, that friendship has been made when Catelyn called her, in the middle of the night, and informed her that someone tried to run Bran over with a car.

"And it's Jaime Lannister." Catelyn hissed angrily when they were on the phone. "He tried to kill my son."

That was the second time Brienne met Jaime Lannister.

And now that he messaged her for a favor, he felt like she owed it to Catelyn to at least tell her.

  
#

  
"No." Catelyn says as soon as the words came out of her mouth. And isn't that surprising. "No, Brienne. You were there when it happened. You saw Bran. You're seeing Bran right now. He did that to my son. Whatever it is he was about to ask, he doesn't deserve the help you're about to give."

And see, Brienne gets that, really. The anger. Bran couldn't walk now because of Jaime Lannister. Bran never told them why Jaime tried to do that; not even therapy could make it happened. And the Lannister's side always said it was an accident. She wanted to ask Bran, once, but it felt like an invasion. He'd always been a quiet child. She never met Bran when he was the type of kid who climbed trees and liked to be on top of the world. This is the Bran she knew.

They're in the kitchen, she's helping Catelyn cook while they watch Pod and Sansa, in the living room, play with Rickon; Arya playing a video game and Bran reading a book on the side.

"Are you thinking of talking to Jaime Lannister?" Catelyn asks and her jaw is clenching.

"Catelyn." She sighs.

"If it happened to Pod, what would you have done?" She asks, angrily.

And that's -- "A low blow." Brienne comments. "Pod might not have scars we can see but he's been bruised all the same." She tells her firmly.

Catelyn blinks and looks sheepish. "I'm sorry. I --"

"You're mad. I understand." Brienne touches Catelyn's hand and pats it. "It's justified." And they leave it at that.

Before dinner, Ned politely tells Brienne, "Even without the Bran issue, there's the fact he killed Aerys."

"It wasn't proven."

"It didn't need to be proven. They're Lannisters. Money is how they solve problems."

And that's true, too.

She still feels conflicted. She wants to ask Pod on what he thinks. He's a grown man, now. He probably has some opinions on his own, but she's afraid that whatever he says will be based on what she thinks. She can ask her dad or her brother -- they have more insights on what to do, probably.

It isn't until she excused herself in the patio to breathe that Bran is the next person who corners her.

"Aren't you going to ask me?" He asks.

Brienne blinks at him.

He sighs. "I heard you and mom. She can get loud when she's mad."

Brienne smiles. "Yeah, I know."

"I'm going to tell you a secret because I know you'll keep it." Bran says. "Because you wouldn't tell anyone."

Brienne nods. "I promise. I won't."

"Jaime was really supposed to kill me but he changed his mind halfway. The reason why he wanted to was because of his sister. I saw them having sex in one of the houses near ours. It was apparently a house of Jaime's friend "

So, that's true, too. She thinks. The sister-fucker. It should probably shock her, but Jaime is the most beautiful man he'd ever seen, and since Cersei is his twin...

Brienne doesn't want to comprehend what was going on.

"I was so young and so mad that he crippled me. He could have killed me, instead. So, I looked for a way to talk to him, that's how I met his brother, Tyrion, who gave me his number." Bran looks at her. "I yelled at him on the phone. Told him he ruined my life and I wished he just killed me and he apologised, and I asked him why he did that to me."

Bran looks like he wanted Brienne to ask. So, she does. "Why did he do that to you?"

"Cersei is a bitch." He says. "Tyrion's words, not mine. She's been using Jaime as long as he can remember, and that Jaime has always been easily manipulated and abused. He thought that Jaime might even have been raped once. And you know, what you said about Pod, that we never see his scars but he'd been bruised all the same?" He asks her and she nods. "I knew that, then. What happened to Jaime. Cersei ordered him to kill me and he was helpless against her but he changed his mind because he didn't think I deserve to die for their mistake. Then, he had an accident where his hand had been cut off. By a car. It felt like poetic justice. I told him if he wanted to atone to what he did to me, he'll stop interacting with Cersei."

Brienne understands it, now, suddenly. There was an outrage when Jaime suddenly pulled out in Lannister's Corporation. There was a whole scandal of him leaving the Lannisters clutches for good.

"That was you?" She's surprised that Jaime Lannister would do something like that. For a kid he' supposed to kill.

"I guess." Bran shrugs. "But it's him doing that. I just told him he has an option."

"You want me to talk to him, then?"

"He seems distracted these past few days. And he won't tell me. I understand why you would want mom's opinion." He thins his lips. "But they like to get angry at the pain they never felt. The anger they feel is not for me, it's for them. Because they feel like they failed."

That startles Brienne a bit. She never thought of that. Bran is the one Jaime crippled, the one who had the right to veto whatever decision she makes. Because the only reason why she even thought of asking the Starks is because of him.

That's the thing, she thinks, is that Catelyn and the rest of the Starks mourn for the boy Bran was but not realising that whether or not they accept that Bran is gone, he doesn't exist now. The one that knows pain and forgiveness and acceptance is the one that's here.

He grew up.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"It's fine." Bran replies. "It's easy to feel angry for me but this is the life I'm living now and I'm enjoying it as much as I can. Just like Pod is, or Jaime, or you. We all have things we would like to change about ourselves but we had to make do on what we have. That's life, I think."

Brienne giggles. "You sound like a philosopher."

"I had time." He replies, drily before giving her a smile too.

#

  
"Goodnight, mom." Pod tells her as he kisses her cheek.

Pod is about to enter his room when Brienne stops him.

"Pod, wait."

Pod turns around and hums, questioning. "Yes?"

"If... someone asks me for a favor and that someone doesn't have a favorable reputation, what would you suggest I do?"

"I don't know." He answers, slowly. "But, you gave me a chance, didn't you?"

Brienne hugs her son before saying her own goodnight.

#

"Are you sure you would want to adopt him?"

"I don't have time to take care of a child. He's a teenager. I can take care of a teenager."

"Rumors about him haven't been good. From what we know, Podrick Payne has been whoring himself --"

"I'm a Social Worker, Sir. I expect you to have respect on your fosters."

"...Of course."

"Give me the paper works so I can adopt a son. And you, you will be hearing from your superiors. This kind of behavior is unacceptable."

  
#

It's not like she had reservation of replying to Jaime Lannister or that she doesn't know how. But she has been busy, there were paperworks to do, hospital to visit, children to take care of that it's almost two weeks before she realised that she hadn't message him back.

Catelyn still talks to her, and they still eat lunch together; she asked about Jaime Lannister once and when Brienne was about to answer, Catelyn refused to know.

"Whatever it is you decide, I know you'll... do the right thing." She said.

Today, though, Catelyn has a meeting with someone else so Brienne has to eat lunch on her own. And it seems fate has decided for Brienne, after all.

Because she sees the golden head that she hasn't seen in so long in the restaurant she frequents with Catelyn. He's sitting in one of the corners and looking at her, too.

"Oh." He mouths.

Brienne swallows back a groan. Now or never. She walks towards him and holds up a hand. "Jaime Lannister, I'm Brienne --"

"--Tarth." He stands up and takes her hand. "I know. I wouldn't message you if I didn't." He shakes their hands and lets go a second too late. "Sit. What would you like to order?"

"No, I'll -- I'll come back and you can... um, we can talk."

His face has been the picture of confidence when she comes in but this time, his beautiful face settles with a uncertainty. "Yeah, sure."

She leaves her bag and goes to the counter. Her movement is slow as she takes her food; her mind rapids with ideas on what kind of favor Jaime Lannister would ask her. She goes back to their table and bring him a sugar-free cake and a cup of coffee while she has a bottled water and some sandwich.

"You didn't have to --"

"I insist." She sees what Jaime has been nursering. A black coffee. "Please."

She sits down across him and drinks her water. When she puts it down, she says, "So."

"I was in the area." Jaime starts. "I was sending some letters in my brother's stead. He needed someone to charm the people receiving them."

"Is that your job?"

"For him, yes. He says all I do is look pretty in the useless office. I'm just an investor in his Law Firm."

Brienne is quite aware of the Law Firm of his brother. Lannister-Martell. A corporate one, but they do pro-bono. She would know, she met Oberyn Martell once. It was an experience.

"You and your brother have a way of being remembered." She comments.

He chuckles lightly. "Tyrion had always been the rebel of the family. As soon as he was ready to leave, he left home and never looked back. And well, I'm... which one of my names would you like to discuss?"

She feels taken back. "That's not -- we're not here for that."

"No." He agrees. "Honestly, I've been waiting for your response. I didn't expect you to say yes. I know who I'm up against. The Starks took you in as a family."

"I was there for Bran." She says silently.

"Yes. I remember you." He smiles, sadly. "Tall, blonde, and looking like a mighty warrior. You looked like the Mother."

"Don't mock me."

"I'm not." He shakes his head.

Brienne drinks her water again. She doesn't feel hungry anymore. "What was the favor you wanted to ask?"

"I just want to tell you I know you owe me nothing. And if you say no, I wouldn't hold it against you. You can say no, Brienne. I promise."

Brienne. He calls her Brienne.

"Okay."

He breathes in. "Will you marry me?"

She blinks. "Come again?"

"Will you marry me." He repeats. "I'm asking because... Cersei has been... she killed Robert."

That's not a secret. News everywhere will tell anyone that. Brienne doesn't really have any particular care for it. Tarths had a long, long, long lost connection with the Baratheons and the only one she has connection with now is Renly, who is in the same line of work as her. And he's not enough for her to care about Robert. The news also said Cersei will be receiving jail time but the entire details are lost on her.

"I know."

"You also know she has children."

"Yes." A pause. Remembering they were very blonde and very green eyes. "Were they're --" she swallows. "Were they're yours?"

"What? Oh, no. No, no, no. They're not -- they're not mine." Quietly, he adds, "I was very careful with Cersei. I didn't -- my Father will kill us both if she got pregnant. But they're not Robert's, either. She used birth control because she didn't want to sire his bastards. Her words, not mine." He sighs. "I suspect they were Lancel's, our cousin. Tyrion suspects it, too, and basing on how Tyrion has been right since birth, he'd most likely be right with this one as well."

"Okay." She looks at him. "What does it have to do of you asking me to marry you with Cersei killing her husband?"

"I want to adopt Tommen and Myrcella." He explains. "Joffrey has been taken by my father but he thinks the rest of Cersei's children are weak. They'll be in the foster home if I don't do anything. Tyrion says our case has a large chance of winning but... having a mother would help."

That's true. It seems a bit... bad, but when it comes to these cases, the law has a bias opinion.

"Tywin would probably win this by money, Tyrion would win it by wit and manipulation. I want to win it with honor. I want them to grow up with a good mother and a great environment."

"How would you know I'll be a good mother?" She asks.

"I know about Podrick Tarth." He answers. "You're all over his Instagram."

She blushes. She's not exactly well-versed in social media as much as her son and Pod did ask her about taking her pictures. She just didn't know about him posting them in his accounts.

"You didn't know about it." Jaime sounds surprised.

"I respect my son's privacy."

"His account is in public."

"Still."

Jaime laughs. 

Brienne relaxes. Seeing him laugh soften something in her. "I... I know about the law and adoption. I know you're telling the truth."

"But?" Jaime asks hopefully.

"Let me... think it over. This is -- we just met again. I don't even know you."

He nods. "I know. Take the time you need."

"You don't have time." She points out.

"I'm sure Tyrion would manage." He flashes her a smile that sends butterflies in her stomach.

Or red warnings. Sansa's voice in her head supplies.

She adds. "And if I say yes, I want the kids to meet me. You can't possibly just shove me to them and expect it to work well."

"Common decency would go along way to them, Brienne. Just be yourself and they'll love you."

She feels the dread in her stomach. Still she asks, "Why?"

"Let's just say Tommen doesn't know Cersei is her mother, he knows her as the woman who hates him and his sister and Myrcella never really corrects her brother."

Yeah, she shouldn't have asked.

#

She's cooking dinner when Pod comes home. He had a shift in the restaurant ten blocks away from their house. A part time waiter and he's been doing so well, if Bronn, the owner, begged Pod to come back every time Pod has time is anything to go by.

"Hey, mom!" He says happily. "I'll just shower and go down."

"Sure." She smiles. "And, I have something to say. It's nothing bad!" She adds hastily when Pod's face fell. "Just. I'm going to make a decision and I need your opinion."

"Okay." He says slowly. "I'll -- okay." He runs upstairs and Brienne can hear the hurrying of footsteps.

Before she parted ways with Jaime, she told him about Bran.

Jaime shrugged. "We had a bit of comradry going on." He points to his right hand. "He liked to ask me for a hand and I always tell him to run."

She can imagine Bran laughing at that joke, at least.

"I'm also going to tell my son. And if I meet the kids and they're fine with me, I want you to meet Pod."

"Pod." He said, testing the word. "Sure." He smiles.

Her mind comes back to the present when Pod comes down, looking nervous.

"Sit down." She says as she puts the food.

Pod sits down. He still looks nervous. She's reminded when she first meet him in the foster home. He looked the same, just with dirtier clothes and longer hair.

She sits across him. "There's... there's someone who asked me for a favor. And it would -- I'm thinking of doing that favor but it would change a lot of things. It will affect you. You are my son --" she sees Pod nods, smiling slightly "-- and I want your honest opinion. Okay?"

"Okay?"

She breathes. Here it goes. "You may know what happened to Cersei Lannister."

He frowns. "Yes. It's all over the news, and Bronn always complain about the Lannisters ruining his TV habits."

She rolls her eyes. Bronn. "Cersei has kids. Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella. Joffrey has been taken by Tywin Lannister but not Tommen and Myrcella. Jaime Lannister wants to adopt them."

Pod nods. "Are you helping him adopt them?"

"Some." She looks at him. "Jaime Lannister asked me to marry him."

Pod's eyes go wide comically. It's almost funny. "He what?"

"It's... something he must do. For the children. I would like to help him but I wouldn't do this without you, Pod. You're my son. If you don't want me to do this..." she breathes in. "What you say, goes."

Pod blinks at her and looks down at his food. "I... 


End file.
